A Mombasa Court on Tuesday, November 1, released five police officers charged with the murder of a suspect in custody on Ksh1 million bond after two years in remand.
Justice Justus Bwononga ordered for the five who have been in custody since 2019 to be freed on alternative cash bail of KES 800,000.
The five implicated in the murder of Caleb Esipino Otieno, a tout in Mombasa, include police constables Khalifa Abdullahi, James Muli, Joseph Sirawa, Edward Kongo and Nelson Nkanae.
Charges against the five were approved by the Director of Public Prosecutions Noordin Haji in August 2021, two years after the death of Otieno in 2018 but it has taken over one year before the five were charged in court.
The five were arraigned in court after a public inquest by the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) in line with Sections 386 and 387 of the Criminal Procedure Code, Laws of Kenya.
Otieno was in police custody at Changamwe Police Station when he met his death and the five officers have been in remand since September last year after a plea to be released on bond had been denied by the same court.
The findings by IPOA indicated that Otieno died hours after he was arrested on suspicion of having Changáa at Mikindani on September 18, 2018.
According to witness accounts, the victim was assaulted at the police station when he demanded to know reasons for his arrest.
“The police had arrested and booked Otieno at around 8 pm, for allegedly being drunk and disorderly,” IPOA said in a statement.
While delivering his ruling, Justice Bwononga ordered the five to check in at the IPOA offices twice a month as they wait for the hearing of their case.
The DPP, while approving the charges against the five, had directed that the murder case be registered and conducted in Nairobi to protect the victim’s family.
The deceased is said to have succumbed to injuries at the Coast General Hospital, where he was admitted after he was reportedly assaulted in police custody.
